A major pharmaceutical company has opted to sever ties with a libertarian think tank that provides arguments critical of global warming and the effects of tobacco smoking.

Pfizer Inc., a New York City-based business that boasts of being the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, decided to cut financial support from the Heartland Institute.

Sharon Castillo, spokeswoman for Pfizer, told The Christian Post that the decision was implemented earlier this month for multiple reasons. more >>

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration reassured concerned citizens on Wednesday that the long-rumored Mayan Apocalypse, which is the belief that life will come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012, has no basis in science and that there is no evidence there will be any cosmic danger on that day.

"There is no true issue here," David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA's Ames Research Center, said during a NASA Google+ Hangout event on Wednesday. "This is just a manufactured fantasy."

The 21st of December, which also happens to mark the Winter Solstice, the day when the Sun will appear at noon at its lowest altitude above the horizon, has long been believed by some to signify the end of the world, based on the Mayan calendar. The ancient civilization composed calendar cycles that encompassed hundreds of years, with the last cycle, the 13th one, ending on Dec. 21, 2012. more >>

"The 700 Club" co-host Pat Robertson has voiced his disagreement with Young Earth Creationists by recently stating on his show that he believes the existence of dinosaurs proves that the earth is not 6,000 years old, as some conservative Christians believe.

"I know people will probably lynch me for this, but Bishop (James) Ussher, God bless him, wasn't inspired by the Lord when he said it all took 6,000 years. It just didn't," Robertson said, referring to the 17th century Irish clergyman who first argued that the earth was created in 4004 BC.

On "The 700 Club" Tuesday, a mother identified as Michelle reveals in a letter that her young sons are questioning the Bible and asking her to explain the existence of dinosaurs. The woman says that her husband agrees with them, and she fears that she might not have him or her children with her when she enters the Kingdom of God. more >>

An American academic in England has proposed how the recently discovered "Gospel of Jesus' Wife", the papyrus fragment that made news in September, could have been forged using some modern-day technology.

Andrew Bernhard, Master of Studies at Oxford University, discovered a typo carried in one of the most widely distributed electronic copies of the authentic Gospel of Thomas is present in the Jesus' wife document. The academic argues in a 15-page paper how the fragment is a direct cut-and-paste from sections of the Gospel of Thomas by analyzing translations of Coptic and ancient Greek.

"Certainly, rigorous examination of the recently discovered papyrus fragment by specialists in Coptic papyrology and scientists able to evaluate the age of the manuscript and its ink will provide important information about whether Gos. Jes. Wife could be an authentically ancient text," Berhard begins in his written proposal. "However, it has already become clear that there are some striking similarities between this text and The Gospel of Thomas (Gos. Thom.) known from Nag Hammadi Codex II (NHC II), and these similarities deserve to be investigated promptly in detail. Textual analysis alone could provide strong evidence that Gos. Jes. Wife may be a modern forgery." more >>

An 11-year-old boy has discovered the remains of a 30,000-year-old mammoth in northern Russia, and paleontologists are calling it the best preserved mammoth find in over a century.

The child, Evgeny Salinder, found the mammoth, complete with organs, layers of fat, bones, flesh and fur at the Sopochnaya Karga cape, located in Russia's northern Taymyr peninsula.

"We can see that this animal was very well adapted to the northern environment, accumulating massive amounts of fat," Aleksey Tikhonov, deputy head of the Zoology institute in the Russian Academy of Science, told local Russian newspaper Itar-Tass. more >>

The Smithsonian Channel has announced that it will postpone a previously planned documentary for the "Jesus wife" papyrus after a leading Vatican newspaper joined theologians and scholars in suggesting that the text is possibly a fake.

"The Gospel of Jesus's Wife," the title of the documentary that was planned for Sept. 30, was being advertised as "one of the most significant discoveries of all time," by the Smithsonian Channel, but the website now says that the program is "not currently airing," giving no indication if or when it will air. A spokesman for Smithsonian has also noted that the program will be postponed "until the text undergoes further tests," The Washington Post reported.

The controversial papyrus was unveiled in September by Professor Karen King of Harvard Divinity School. King has claimed the papyrus is the only existing ancient text in which Jesus supposedly refers to having a wife, presumably by the name of Mary. Some of the translated passages from Coptic text include: "Jesus said to them," "My wife …" and "she will be able to be my disciple …" King has said that the document is possibly an early 2nd century document excavated in upper Egypt, and noted that she appreciates the discussion on the subject. more >>